Why Read Literature?

To someone who tries to understand the world, reading literature might seem like wasted time. Why read something that is not true? Why read something that’s a product of someone’s imagination?

Being a social scientist myself, this question bothered me for a long time. However, once I started exploring some good authors, I quickly realized that reading literature might be more beneficial than reading social science books. That is if you aim to understand the social world and human behavior.